Tag Archives: Maoists

During the past thirty years over a million soldiers have been gathered on the border of India and Pakistan awaiting the call to arms. They daily practice for a war that will never come, generals inspect men who will spend their entire life sitting in bunkers, flying planes, engaged in maneuvers for a war that simply can not be fought since both sides have atomic weapons. As these hundreds of thousands of men sit idly by, growing bored, spending endless hours at target practice in order to become skilled at doing nothing, within their respective nations, there are armed militants attacking mosques, holy places, blowing up trains, killing members of the police and creating mayhem. Maoist militants in India just blew up a train, they also blew up a bus and killed 31 police and earlier in the month, ambushed a patrol and killed 70 soldiers. Of course, India lacks soldiers to confront the 20,000 Maoists who wander through 20 of the 29 states in the nation not worrying about being harassed because the soldiers of India are facing Pakistani soldiers.

It is time for Pakistan and India to have a meeting, agree to focus on their internal issues, and accept the reality there will be no further fighting between the two nations. At the meeting, they could also find a peaceful resolution of the long standing conflict over Kashmir and get on with the task of ridding their respective nations of militants.

The ongoing struggle in India between the government and Maoist forces continues even though the recent military campaign has endeavored to finally crush these militants. As the India armed forces prepares to continue Operation Green Hunt, top Maoist leaders are discussing their future and whether military action is the best method of achieving goals or will peaceful negotiation by a better approach. Kishanji, military strategist for the Maoists wants to continue fighting, but a powerful section of the central committee believes it is time for another path toward victory. India has offered the choice of a massive crackdown or the alternative of peaceful negotiations.

Maoists are asking the India government to: (a) withdraw forces from their current positions; (b) lift ban on their party, and (c) release top Maoists from jail. Who knows what eventually will result?

India is the world’s largest democracy and since its birth over a half century ago, it has proven able to maintain the basic features of a democratic society. However, despite the emergence of a well educated and fairly prosperous middle class, poverty still haunts the lives of hundreds of millions in India. The poverty has led to a Maoist led guerrilla warfare which is responsible for about 90% of violence in the nation. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently commented: ‘I have consistently held that left wing extremism is, perhaps, the gravest internal security threat we face. We have not achieved as much success as we would have liked in containing it.”

Ironically, at a time when nations such as Pakistan and India should be focusing on poverty in their nations, both expend huge amounts of money on arms in order to be prepared for a war that most probably will not arrive. Singh urged the use of “nuanced strategies” in order to confront Maoists. Among such strategies the most effective is addressing issues of education, economic development and engagement of poor people in the democratic process.

The Nepal monarchy is not expected to be part of the nation’s ruling elite much longer than a few weeks as a newly elected Assembly meets to formally end the kingdom of Nepal which has been in existence for 239 years and proclaim a republic. The government has banned all demonstrations in and around the royal palace and the private homes of King Gyanendra in order to avoid any incident of violence against him by a population which has grown to distrust his rule. The radical Maoists won a surprise election in April during which they campaigned to remove the king.

However, Dinanath Sharma, a senior leader of the Maoists said “we have urged the people to come to the st reets on that day(voting to abolish the monarchy) to celebrate the republic day.’ The Maoists have a day of celebration but then must turn to many problems that will face the new republic including dealing wth poverty and creating a viable democracy.

The dramatic triumph of the communist party in last week’s elections raises interesting questions as to whether this marks the emergence of a communism devoted to creating a democratic Nepal in which people of all socio-economic backgrounds can move forward, or will this be another Maoist example of brutality in the name of the state. There is no doubt the people of Nepal were disgusted with its corrupt and inefficient monarchy and wanted the dawn of a new age in which all sectors of society would benefit, but in selecting the Maoist leadership have they entered on a new era of oppression?

The Maoists can digest a form of capitalism much as Chinese Communists have adopted one, but if their neighbor to the north is any example, the Nepal Maoists may find indigestible the components of a democratic society. Most probably the professional Nepal army will soon be transformed into a people’s liberation force dedicated to the proposition the Maoist run government can not surrender power in any such thing as a democratic election.